Going into a holiday weekend tomorrow, we know that people will need something to argue about until Monday. Well, we’ve got the mother of all argument dancers here today. I’ve snagged 26 screenshots from the 4 second video of Robben’s dive that led to a fateful free penalty kick by which the Netherlands beat Mexico. And they are clear. Robben was fouled by the Mexican defender Marquez.

It was not a ticky tack foul, but a real one. Arguably, a smart one — but in any event a foul. If you seek examples of injustice in the world, they abound over the past week, but this isn’t one of them.

I was rooting wholeheartedly for Mexico here, even more so than I was rooting for Spain in the 2010 Championship game because the Dutch just seemed so damn dirty. So I don’t like coming to this conclusion. But, for me, intellectual honesty demands it.

Here’s the GIF from which we’ll be working — the one circulating from a different angle shows the flop, but not the foul:

Here we go — 30 pictures with captions.

1: Arjen Robben, of the evil footballers “the Oranje” of the otherwise perfectly nice country of the Netherlands, has the ball late in a tie game against Mexico.

2: Among the Oranje’s most adept scorers, the wily Robben is a clear threat from just to the right of the goal box to break open the game with a goal or assist.

3: His left foot fully cocked, Robben prepares to put the ball into play. He is challenged by Mexican defender Rafa Marquez.

4: Quickly moving his left foot to the right of the ball, it is already clear that Robben will be able to pass it past Marquez.

5: And there it goes — quickly. You can see this better in the video, but Marquez is still looking towards Robben’s feet.

6: As the ball starts to fly, Marquez moves his foot forward towards the path of the ball. His eyes remain on Robben’s feet.

7: For the first time we see (1) the great Mexican goalie Guillermo Ochoa and (2) Marquez’s gaze follows the ball.

8: Marquez’s eyes are still on the ball, but his foot is arching up at a higher angle. What happens next is critical.

9: Two very subtle but critical changes here: (1) Marquez’s eyes shift back from the (zooming) ball to Robben’s legs and (2) the angle of his foot changes to point towards Robben’s left foot.

10: One can get a sense of the speed with which Marquez’s right foot is shifting towards Robben’s left foot from the small distance traveled by both the ball and Robben’s face, right knee, and foot.

11: Note again how quickly Marquez’s foot is shifting from “going for the ball” position to “going for the foot” position compared to the speed of all other motion in these frames.

12: When we trip someone, we often think of tripping them at the ankle. That’s not what Marquez is aiming for. He’s going to hold Robben’s left foot down onto the ground.

13: This is the last that you’re going to see of the sole of Marquez’s shoe, as it clamps down on Robben’s toes like an alligator jaw, in this post.

14: CHOMP! Look back six shots or so to get a sense of the speed and force with which Marquez is stomping down here. Especially the force.

15: The force matters because, to trip Robben, Marquez has to hold his foot down and keep it down.

16: Watch Robben’s right leg move forward. This is like tripping over a tree root on the ground.

17: Robben is already supposed to be pushing off his left foot to keep his balance. But like a sturdy tree root, Marquez prevents it from moving forward.

18: Look how low to the ground Marquez’s force has taken him! By the Robben’s foot is released, he can only push off of his tiptoes. That’s not nearly enough force.

19: You can see how little force Robben had behind his last stride. He didn’t have to fake a flop. He was subtly tripped.

20: His left leg was to give him leverage to thrust his right leg forward. Without that, neither leg is going anywhere good.

…………………..

COOLING OFF PERIOD: 10 more pictures below show the flop that so many people think is damning evidence of Robben’s overacting. Maybe it is, in part — but it didn’t have to be. Has anyone here ever tripped over something like an uneven rise in a concrete sidewalk? If you do it at full speed, this is pretty much what happens. Robben didn’t have to act at all to wave his arms and land on his chest and face. Let’s just all enjoy the big finale will minimal interruption before we get back to any broader commentary.

21: Any way to steady himself here? No.

22: How about now? No, no foot-to-ground contact yet.

23: Is the wing-flapping working? Not so far.

24: See how quickly Marquez has become a mere bystander?

25: Not breaking a fall with one’s arms may be milking it a bit.

26: Wait, here come the arms, swinging forward — too late?

27: I think that Marquez’s deadpan here is at least as impressive as any acing that Robben is doing.

CONCLUSION: Most of what seems to have bothered people about the flop is action that Robben could have done little or nothing to avoid — because he was in midair without leverage. The bit at the end — well, the most important thing to note about it is that it’s inconsequential. The foul came earlier — and it was probably less hard for a referee to see and judge than we imagine.

You know how Luis Sanchez biting an Italian was a stupid foul? Well, this was a smart foul. It was well done. It wasn’t hooking a foot around someone’s leg, pushing, tripping, etc. Having been the air, Marquez’s foot had to come down somewhere, right? It’s a few subtleties — the direction of his eyes, his turning around his foot, his planting his foot on Robben’s toes long enough to keep him from maintaining his balance — that give away what he was doing. If the referee saw nothing more than his turning his foot so quickly before his landed on Robben’s foot, that would have been enough to suspect foul play.

But I suspect that most of the time, in that situation, he would get away with it — not because he should, but because the referee would not likely be in position to see what happened. So, he played the odds that it was worth taking an opponent’s star player out of a play near his goal at a critical moment. Not stupid at all. But for him to have been caught and given the appropriate punishment is not injustice.

Es penal. Lo siento, pero es verdad.

About Greg Diamond

Somewhat verbose worker's rights and government accountability attorney, residing in northwest Brea. General Counsel of CATER, the Coalition of Anaheim Taxpayers for Economic Responsibility, a non-partisan group of people sick of local corruption.
Deposed as Northern Vice Chair of DPOC in April 2014 when his anti-corruption and pro-consumer work in Anaheim infuriated the Building Trades and Teamsters in spring 2014, who then worked with the lawless and power-mad DPOC Chair to eliminate his internal oversight.
Occasionally runs for office to challenge some nasty incumbent who would otherwise run unopposed. (Someday he might pick a fight with the intent to win rather than just dent someone. You'll know it when you see it.) He got 45% of the vote against Bob Huff for State Senate in 2012 and in 2014 became the first attorney to challenge OCDA Tony Rackauckas since 2002.
None of his pre-putsch writings ever spoke for the Democratic Party at the local, county, state, national, or galactic level, nor do they now.
A family member co-owns a business offering campaign treasurer services to Democratic candidates and the odd independent. He is very proud of her. He doesn't directly profit from her work and it doesn't affect his coverage. (He does not always favor her clients, though she might hesitate to take one that he truly hated.)
He does advise some local campaigns informally and (so far) without compensation. (If that last bit changes, he will declare the interest.)

18 Comments

No foul. In the box it’s got to be bad. And Robben wasn’t going anywhere – he’d already pushed the ball too far from himself to make any sort of play. The Mexis had him surrounded, too. The flop was quite acrobatic, though.

No, Marquez stepped on Robben’s foot — after rearing up, changing direction, coming down on it with substantial force, and holding it there long enough to trip him — to take him out of subsequent play near the goal at a critical moment. That’s bad — and easily bad enough.

As for his being surrounded: did the pass go to another Mexican or to a Dutchman? If they retained control, then Robben was still dangerous, at a minimum for attracting defenders.

Anybody who’s watched soccer knows there are fouls – and then there are penalty kick fouls – which is how I should have expressed it. Robben clearly lost control of the ball before his foot was stepped on. Therefore he was no longer an immediate threat to score or even make a pass; in fact he is surrounded by four or five Mexicans – and Holland shouldn’t have been rewarded with a penalty kick.

The calling of fouls is never consistent in and around the box. How many times have you seen a fouls spotted just outside the box even though it was committed inside?

I have no idea why my reply to you yesterday didn’t appear. Damn you, OJB Administrators! Anyway, here it is from memory.

Robben didn’t “lose control of the ball.” He aimed and passed the ball, very intentionally, at what we should presume was a Dutch player. If the team retained control of the ball, then he was still a threat, because (1) he was near the goal and (2) by drawing defenders towards him he increased the possibility that his teammates would have a clear shot on goal. That’s presumably why Marquez wanted to take him out. (If you doubt that, explain why Marquez raised his foot after the ball passed him, realigned it, and then swooped it down to land on Robben’s toes and keep them down. HE apparently considered Robben a continuing threat.)

Yes, the calling of fouls in the box is inconsistent. So? That other calls are missed doesn’t mean that a correct call becomes offensive.

I do watch the games on KMEX. Nice to hear Marcelo Balboa during the US games; with his Yanqui accent and slightly slower pace, I can understand more of what he says!

David Zenger

Posted July 4, 2014 at 3:07 PM

Robben didn’t “lose control of the ball.”

Yes he did. It was a push to nobody, certainly not himself and the only players in the area were Mexican. Then he was hit – after the ball was no longer in his control and his reaction was as histrionic as it gets. No way that deserved a free kick.

I think it was a foul AND Robben helped elicit the call by flopping. If you watch Robben after he’s tripped, he literally chooses to not bring his right foot back down and regain his balance. He chooses to flop instead of attempting to keep his balance.

But like I said, it’s a foul. His foot was stepped on. And Marquez was late to the ball.

I’ve been enjoying the World Cup, but I think most Americans just don’t buy all the flopping and writhing on the ground as if one’s limb has just been amputated. I mean, it’s really kinda pathetic. I can put up with a LITTLE of that, like in basketball…but it’s epidemic in these games.

*Who killed Cock Robbin? Great book……but then who was the most reknowned Flopper in NBA History? Hint: It was not Fossberry! Ex Laker Valde ………D’basch……! We will be very pleased to see the Dutch Crunch…..lose in this next round.

Oh booohooooo! I, as a Dutchie, won’t cry if our team loses. I’m glad we got this far already. The Mexicans are crying for almost a week now. They refuse to see the mistakes of their own team. The yellow cards, the tackles, stepping on Robben’s ankle … If anything, if there was one team that deserved to be kicked out of the game, it’s Mexico. Most Mexican ‘supporters’ are not grown up enough for their team to win. Their immature behaviour over the past few days prove that. Even when it’s a 100% clear their team played unfair as well, they blame the Dutch.

*What is not so funny is the possible career ending injury to Neymar by the Columbian hit man. That guy didn’t even get a Red Card….we think. He should be banned for life. That was an on purpose hit without a doubt.

*The Columbians dirty play against Brazil was an outrage! That Ref is dirty as they come and paid off by someone. Zuniga should be banned for life. It was truly sad to see the great little Costa Rica team, play clean, hard and determined and then lose in the shootout. The Dutch are still clunky. Go Messi! We are suffering from World Cup overload………..and will be glad when it is all over so we can go back to supporting Real Madrid and Ronaldo!

*The Dutch need to stick to ice skating and their impressive SAS. Soccer? Name all the great all stars for Manchester United that are Dutch. OK, now name all those playing for Barcelona or Real Madrid…..we are waiting!

You’re right — I do know the difference, but it’s my fault for composing at the tail-end of an all-nighter. Thank you for doing your best not to be an anonymous asshole about it. You were one, but I appreciate the effort, regardless of results.